Already a few Saturdays ago I got to throw a summer breakfast party for girls. It was so much fun and there were tons of delicious things on the table. I gave my best to keep it simple though. We had a variety of smoothies ( Freunde am Kochen  &  Innocent ),  Mr. Snackins  fabulous goodies, sugar free marmalade from  Mr. & Ms. Bio , self made Acai bowls (from  Amazonian ), not to forget:  MANDY  (my favourite almond milk in town), and unbeatable vegan spreads ( Soyana ). AAAND: a huge variety of cheese from  Welschland . my favourite, shop for specialities from the Western (French speaking) part of Switzerland. It's a very authentic organic store, open till late in the evening in our neighbourhood (Kreis4). Martin, the owner, gave me some very valuable hints & tips for the perfect cheese platter. There are a few "rules" to follow if you want to make it right ;) (not to underestimate). Cheese platter are great fun! There are almost no creativity boundaries. here we go:  + choose a variety of cheese: hard to soft / recent to mild + around 5 sorts of cheese (220g / person) + cheese-clock: arrange the cheese clockwise, begin with the mildest (that's how it should be eaten too) + decorate with natural products whose tastes agree with the cheeses; herbs, nuts, dried fruit, grapes.  + cheese knife: It's nice to have several cheese knives so the flavours of the stronger ones aren't mixed into the others. (I got mine at:  Edition Populaire , that store is beyond beautiful) + provide a basket full of great bread (I got my favourite rye sourdough bread from  John Baker ) + wine, wine, wine.. (or as we did: juice, coffee / tea - it's allowed;  MIR Ó  proved) + you can even put a vegan cheese on the platter (options..) + I added a vegan spread onto mine CHEESE IS LIKE GOOD WINE. IT NEEDS TO BE SERVED AT ROOM TEMPERATURE. Enjoy! Cheers!

minestrone: + 1 table spoon oil (I used pumpkin seed oil from Jucker Farm) + 1 onion + 1 small carrot + 1/5 yellow zucchini + 1/5 green zucchini + 1 cup sweat peas + 1/4 broccoli + 1 cup green beans (cut in half) + 2 cups broth (or make your own: I just mixed water, 1 tea spoon finest herbal salt together) + herbs as topping (fresh basil, sage, parsley, cilantro..) + chili (to serve) heat the oil, add the on sliced onion and roast for a few seconds. Then add all the vegetables and lightly braise. After a little bit just add the broth and let it boil for around 10'. Serve with fresh herbs, chill and pesto!  pesto: + 1 bundle fresh basil + 1/2 cup (less / more) oil (I used olive oil for the mass & pumpkin seed oil to serve) + in this version I used half of a  Veganella  from Soyana, it's a vegan mozarella, but you can always just use regular cheese (parmesan)  + salt & pepper + 1/4 cup cashews put all the ingredients, beside the cashews into your blender and blend till very smooth. At last you add the cashews, since you don't want them to be completely pureed. So just blend for a few seconds.. 

that birthday cake is guilt free - I promise!
It's a birthday full month. Friends are celebrating and of course want to treat their friends with a sweet cakes. But why always sugar loaded chocolate cakes- when there's a way to celebrate with a delicious non sugary version? I've been concerned about bad sugars for quite a long time already and even more after reading the  bestselling book  "Gut: The inside story  of  Our Body's Most Underrated Organ"   by Giulia Enders. Refined sugar has no nutritional value, beside empty calories! (careful it's the same with fructose, corn, rice & agave syrup). Even the sugar plant existed in the stone age, the sugar did not in their diet, since technology hasn't existed yet. (paleo diet). I like the aspects of the paleo diet - as close to the source as possible.  So I'm constantly trying to figure out a way to skip the bad / useless stuff in my recipes.  here's the recipe for my sweet - sugar free - mocha cake.  The cake + 2 cups gluten free oat flour (I made one with my blender at home - in case you don't have a blender, you can use another flour you like) + 4 cups almond meal + 3 bananas (preferably super ripe) + 2 espresso shots + 2 cups of a non dairy milk + 2-3 table spoons cacao powder (raw > sugar free) + a pinch of himalaya salt + 1 cup of dates in pieces + 1 table spoon flax seed oil (or almond / coconut oil) + 1 tea spoon baking soda mix all the ingredients and pour into your baking tray. bake at 200° for around 20 minutes, then lower the heat to 180° and bake for another 10 minutes. Then let it cool down.  The frosting + 1 cup dried dates + 1 cups dried plums + 2 espresso shots + 1-2 table spoons of a non dairy milk + 2 table spoons cacao powder (raw > sugar free) Blend the ingredients in your blender till very smooth.. spread onto the cake and decor with slivered almonds. 

beets & sweet potatoes, how wonderful the colours and amazing the health benefits.  -  beets  boost your stamina, lower your blood pressure, help fight inflammation, protect internal organs. beets also contain the B vitamin folate, which helps reduce the risk of birth defects.   But careful, beets are also have the highest sugar content of all vegetables, so eat in adequate amounts..  -  orange sweet potatoes  one of the most amazing thing about those "sweet" potatoes to me is that even they taste so sweet, their natural sugars are slowly released into the bloodstream. which helps to ensure a balanced and regular source of energy, without the blood sugar spikes linked to fatigue and weight gain. It can be very helpful to include some healthy fats in your meal if you want to enjoy the full beta carotene-benefits.  oven roasted sweet potato I got an organic sweet potato, since I like to eat the skin with it. pre-heat your oven on 200°. Place the potato on a baking sheet and bake for around 20 minutes.  beetroot hummus + 1 cup cooked chickpeas + 1-2 tablespoons cold water (you might need a little bit more) + 1/4 cup cooked beets + 1/2 cup tahini + juice of one lemon + salt & pepper to taste + 1 tea spoon cumin seeds + 2 tablespoons olive oil beginn with blending the chickpeas and ice water till smooth. then add all the other ingredients and blend. Depending on how thick / runny you'd like to have your hummus, you can always add more water to it.  almond-basil pesto + 1 cup fresh basil + 1/4 cup roasted almonds + 1/2 cup high quality olive oil + juice of a lemon half + salt & pepper to taste blend till smooth..  I served it with farm fresh salad and  Veganella  (vegan mozzarella made out of cashews from Soyana) - I by the way used for the first time the  Farmy.ch  home delivery service. I found pretty much all of the ingredients on their page.. It's amazing, because they carried all the shopping bags upstairs (I mean, a little workout doesn't harm nobody - we live on the 5th floor) ;)